"Mr Abbott has repeatedly cited Australia's debt figures, coming off the back of the global financial crisis, as another way to talk Australia's economy down. The reality is we came through the sharpest downturn in the global economy since the Great Depression with one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the developed world.
We defied the global trend and avoided recession, and as economic conditions around the globe were resulting in the loss of some 30 million jobs, Australians pulled together to actually create jobs - 750,000 since we came to office.
As a nation we can be proud of that. But that doesn't suit Tony Abbott's agenda."
